Sliding board in particular ski or a snowboard and a method for production thereof

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a sliding board, in particular a ski or snowboard, with at least one interface element connected to the sliding board body, in particular a rail or guide element for the arrangement of binding elements on the upper side of the sliding board. A cradle or cassette ( 7 ) is integrated in the body of the sliding board, to which interface element(s) ( 5, 5 ′) is(are) fixed, whereby the cradle or cassette ( 7 ) and preferably also the interface element(s) ( 3, 3 ′) is(are) connected to further sliding board components with foam or preferably with a foamed core ( 6 ).

The invention relates to a sliding board, in particular a ski or asnowboard, comprising at least one interface element, in particular arail or guide element, connected to the sliding-board body for arrangingof binding elements on the upper side of the sliding board. Theinvention relates furthermore to a method for the manufacture of asliding board, in particular a ski or a snowboard, where a preformedsliding-board upper part having an upper cup is connected to asliding-board lower part having an outsole, if necessary, a lower beltand steel edges, and foam is introduced.

A sliding board of the abovementioned design is known from the EP-A-1161 972. A rail system consisting of at least one profile rail is inthis design connected through at least one attached peg or peg sectionvia a peg connection or anchoring to the sliding-board body. The slidingboard or the ski body is formed for this purpose in such a manner thatat least in the binding area on the upper side there is provided atrough-like recess extending in the longitudinal direction of thesliding board. On each side of this recess a raised area extends in thelongitudinal direction. The profile rails are fastened on the raisedareas, whereby the respective rail is inserted into a slot in thesliding-board body, which slot is open on the upper side of the slidingboard, by means of an adhesive—peg—connection using profile sections,which have a profiling improving the anchoring, and is there anchored byadhesion. The installation of the profile rail is supposed to occuralready during the manufacture or during molding of the sliding board.Even if the here suggested peg fastening of the profile rail has certainadvantages compared with a screw fastening—the possibility of fasteningover a greater length, compact design of the rails—we are dealing with afastening of the profile rails on an already suitably preformed slidingboard. In order to lower the manufacturing expenses and in order tosimplify the manufacture of the system ski or sliding board with a railor guiding system, it would, however, be desirous to be able to connectthese components with one another already during manufacture of thesliding board.

This is where the invention now comes in, the purpose of which is to beable to connect interface elements for the binding parts already duringthe manufacture of the sliding board to the sliding-board body or ratherto be able to integrate same into its design.

The set purpose is attained on the one hand by the inventively designedsliding board characterized in claim 1 and on the other hand by theinventive method for the manufacture of a sliding board, which method isdisclosed in claim 6.

A cradle or a cassette is integrated in the inventive sliding board intothe sliding-board body, on which cradle or cassette the interfaceelement(s), in particular the rail or guide element(s) is or areanchored, whereby the cradle or the cassette, preferably also theinterface element(s), is or are connected to further sliding-board partsthrough foam, preferably through a foamed core.

The inventive method is characterized in such a manner that during theassembly of the sliding-board parts or layers at least one interfaceelement, in particular a rail or guide element is for arranging andguiding of a binding part anchored on a cradle positioned betweensliding-board parts or a cassette, foam is subsequently introduced sothat the interface element(s) and or the cradle or the cassette is orare connected with one another, to the foam and the furthersliding-board parts.

Thus, the invention is indeed dealing with an integration of theinterface element or elements with the sliding-board body during themanufacture of the ski or of the sliding board. Thus, subsequentfastening and adhesive operations for the arrangement of rail or guideelements are eliminated. Inventively integrated rail or guide elementscan therefore also withstand heavy loads.

The cradle or the cassette consists in a preferred embodiment of theinvention of cross bars and/or supports, which have openings or holes.The liquid foam material can easily enter through the openings or holesduring the manufacture of the ski, and the necessary connection of thehardened foam to the further sliding-board parts can occur.

A further characteristic of the invention provides that the anchoring ofthe rail or guide elements in the cradle or the cassette occurs throughlocking openings provided therein, into which openings the connectingelements of the rail or guide elements can engage like a claspconnection. This not only guarantees a good hold of the rail or guideelement in the ski but also a simple, economical manufacture of the skior sliding board.

The connecting elements of the rail or guide elements are guided throughindividual holes, slotted holes, slots or the like in the upper cup and,if necessary, in further layers of the sliding board. This measure alsosupports an inexpensive and economical manufacture of inventivelydesigned sliding boards.

Further characteristics, advantages and details of the invention willnow be described in greater detail in connection with the schematizedillustrations in the drawings, which illustrate one exemplary embodimentof the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a cross section of an inventively manufactured ski,

FIG. 2 is a top view of the ski of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a cross-section of a further embodiment of an inventive ski.

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross section of a ski, which has an outsole 1, twosteel edges 3, a lower belt 2 and an upper cup 4. The core 6 of the skiis foamed and is penetrated at least in those areas, where rail or guideelements 5 are integrated into the core 6 and the upper cup 4, by acradle or cassette 7 or is divided into a number of core elements, whichare connected with one another. At least one rail or guide element 5extending in longitudinal direction of the ski is provided per skibinding or per ski-binding part. Two such elements 5 are integrated perski-binding part into the ski design in the embodiment illustrated inFIG. 1. A ski-binding part, for example a front or rear binding jaw,can, for example and in a conventional manner, be moved onto the rail orguide elements 5, and can be arranged, in particular locked or fastened,in an also conventional manner. The ski-binding part or the ski bindingare not the subject matter of this invention, and are therefore notdiscussed and also not illustrated. FIG. 1 merely indicates with adashed line a base plate 14, which is moved onto the two elements 5.FIG. 1 shows that the rail or guide elements can for this purpose haveguiding shoulders 5 a on their edges, which extend on the outside and inlongitudinal direction of the ski. Corresponding laterally bent edgeareas of the base plate 14 illustrated by dashed lines overlap saidguiding shoulders 5 a when moved thereon.

The steel edges 3, the outsole 1, the upper cup 4 and the lower belt 2can be parts basically designed in a conventional manner. For example,it is possible for the upper cup 4, which is illustrated only in onelayer, to be designed also in two or multiple layers. Preferred is adesign, where the upper cup 4 is already preformed in a cup shape priorto the core 6 being foamed. Further layers can be introduced below theupper cup 4.

FIG. 1 in connection with FIG. 2 shows that the upper cup 4 forconnecting of the rail or guide element 5 to the already mentionedcradle or cassette 7 and for binding of the same into the core 6 isprovided with a number of, for example circular, connecting holes 8. Theholes 8 are arranged in the forms of a row of holes extending inlongitudinal direction of the ski. In the place of a row of holes it isalso possible to provide one single slotted hole or several slottedholes, which also extend in longitudinal direction of the ski.Connecting extensions 9 are arranged corresponding to the positions ofthe holes 8 on the underside of each rail or guide element 5. The freeend area 9 a of each connecting extension 9 is centrally slotted and hasundercuts, which can engage locking openings 10 a in a longitudinal bar10 of the cradle or cassette 7. The end areas 9 a of the connectingextensions 9 guarantee, due to their slotted design, an easy insertionof the extensions 9 into the locking openings 10 a. The engaging of theconnecting extensions 9 at the locking openings 10 a demands thus anelastic moldability either of the connecting extensions 9 or of thecradle or cassette 7, which can be moldable such that the lockingopenings 10 a can widen to the necessary degree.

The cradle or cassette 7 is only schematically illustrated in FIG. 1 andconsists here of several supporting bars 11 extending between the uppercup 4 and the lower belt 2, several longitudinal bars 10 and at leastone or several connecting bar(s) 12, which create a connection to thesupporting bars 11 for the second rail or guide element 5. All bars orwalls of the cradle or cassette 7 have a number of openings or holes 13in order to, as will be described hereinafter, guarantee during thefoaming and forming of the core 6 a passage of the foam material and asolid connection of the core 6 to the cradle or the cassette 7, the railor guide element 5 and the other ski parts.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3 provides a one-piece guide element5′ for a ski-binding part or the like. The guide element 5′ has for thispurpose two lateral guiding shoulders 5′. The design of the guideelement or of the guide elements 5, 5′ or of the guiding shoulders 5 a,5 a′ can differ and is in particular adapted to the respectiveski-binding part.

An inventively designed ski with integrated rail or guide elements 5 canbe manufactured in such a manner that initially the single-layer ormulti-layer designed upper cup 4, which in particular has already adecor layer, is manufactured as a cup and forms the upper part of theski, which is connected in a conventional manner to the lower part ofthe ski consisting of steel edges 3, lower belt 2 and outsole 1. Thecradle or cassette 7 is thereby first positioned into the cup of theupper part of the ski and is connected to the rail or guide elements 5by insertion and connection of the connecting extensions 9. The cradleor cassette 7 serves during the manufacture of the ski as a spacerbetween the upper part and the lower part of the ski and as a supportingcradle. The core 6 of the ski is formed during the subsequentintroduction of the foam, whereby the polymer material of the foam is atthe same time the connecting means for the individual layers or elementsamong one another.

The cradle or cassette 7 can advantageously not only be an auxiliaryconstruction for fixation of the rail or guide elements 5 but can alsotake over, as a so-called torsion box, the task of influencing andimproving the stiffness of the ski. The material and/or the structuraldesign of the cradle or cassette 7 can thereby effect a calculatedinfluence of the stiffness behaviour of the ski. The design of thecradle or cassette 7 can thereby vary both in longitudinal direction ofthe ski and also in transverse direction of the ski in order to meet thedesired varying bending behaviours of the ski over its length.

The invention has been described in connection with one exemplaryembodiment relating to a ski. Of course, it is possible to inventivelydesign or manufacture other types of sliding boards, for examplesnowboards.

Be it furthermore mentioned that at least the cradle or cassette isbound in through the foam. The rail or guide elements are preferablyalso held through the foam material.

1. A method for the manufacture of a sliding board where a preformedsliding-board upper part having an upper cup is connected to asliding-board lower part having an outsole, a lower belt and steeledges, and foam is introduced, wherein during the assembly of thesliding-board upper and lower parts at least one interface element forarranging and guiding of a binding part is anchored on a cradle orcassette fully encased within a cavity formed by said sliding-boardupper and lower parts, the cradle or cassette including supporting barsextending vertically between said upper and lower parts, longitudinalbars extending in a longitudinal direction of the sliding board, andconnecting bars extending in a transverse direction of the sliding boardjoining the supporting bars, foam is subsequently introduced so that theinterface element and the cradle or cassette are connected with oneanother, and the cradle or cassette is completely embedded in said foamwithin said cavity.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein theintroduced foam forms the core of the sliding board.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the foam is distributed through openingsprovided in the cradle or cassette within the sliding-board body.
 4. Asliding board comprising: a sliding-board body, at least one interfaceelement connected to the sliding-board body for arranging of bindingelements on an upper side of the sliding board, and a cradle or cassetteintegrated into the sliding-board body, on which cradle or cassette theinterface element is anchored, the cradle or cassette includingsupporting bars extending vertically between an upper cup and a lowerbelt, longitudinal bars extending in a longitudinal direction of thesliding board, and connecting bars extending in a transverse directionof the sliding board joining the supporting bars, wherein the cradle orcassette and the interface element are embedded within a foamed core ofthe sliding board, and wherein the interface element includes at leastone guide element extending in the longitudinal direction of the glidingboard and configured for receiving a binding or a binding part, the atleast one guide element having connecting extensions connected with orinserted into the cradle or cassette such that the cradle or cassetteand the connecting extensions are fixedly joined together.
 5. Thesliding board according to claim 4, wherein the cradle or cassette iscompletely embedded in an interior of the sliding board formed by theupper cup and the lower belt.
 6. The sliding board according to claim 4,wherein said supporting bars bear on inner surfaces of the upper cup andthe lower belt.
 7. The sliding board according to claim 4, wherein thefoamed core occupies the connecting extensions to prevent removal of theconnecting extensions from locking openings of the cradle or cassette.8. The sliding board according to claim 4, wherein the cradle orcassette has a number of locking openings in which connecting elementsof the at least one interface element are anchored.
 9. The sliding boardaccording to claim 8, wherein the connecting elements are connected tothe cradle or cassette via a clasp connection.
 10. The sliding boardaccording to claim 8, wherein the connecting extensions of the at leastone interface element penetrate through holes constructed in thesliding-board upper cup.
 11. A sliding board comprising: a sliding-boardbody; an interface element connected to the sliding-board body forarranging of binding elements on an upper side of the sliding board; anda cradle or cassette integrated into the sliding-board body, on whichcradle or cassette the interface element is anchored, the cradle orcassette including supporting bars extending vertically between an uppercup and a lower belt, longitudinal bars extending in a longitudinaldirection of the sliding board, and connecting bars extending in atransverse direction of the sliding board joining the supporting bars,wherein the interface element includes a pair of rail-like guideelements extending in the longitudinal direction of the sliding boardand configured for receiving a binding or a binding part, the guideelements include connecting extensions on an underside thereof, and theconnecting extensions are anchored in locking openings in thelongitudinal bars by being embedded within the foamed core.